Tuesday, November 1, 2016

NBC Orders 3 More Episodes of 'Timeless'; Sets Premiere Date for 'Taken'

As the network gears up for its midseason schedule, NBC has ordered three additional episodes for the first season of Timeless. The order today brings the season total to 16 episodes. The network has also announced a February premiere date for its series adaptation of Taken.





Timeless stars Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barett, Sakina Jaffrey, Paterson Joseph, Claudia Doumit and Goran Visnjic.

Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan created the drama. They executive produce with John Davis, John Fox, Marney Hochman and Neil Marshall. Sony Pictures Television, Universal Television, Davis Entertainment, Kripke Enterprises and MiddKid Productions produce.

The order today means NBC has made its final decisions about the fates of its new shows from the fall. All three shows are having contained runs as the 22-episode per season model becomes less traditional for shows on the broadcast networks. The Good Place is doing 13 episodes while This Is Us is capping its season at 18. These decisions came from the creative times and also make sense for NBC because it has a very busy slate of new midseason shows to slot into the schedule.

Based on the film franchise of the same name, Taken depicts how Bryan Mills developed and sharpened his particular set of skills. The first season will premiere on Monday, February 27 at 10/9c. following the spring return of The Voice.

The drama stars Clive Standen, Jennifer Beals, Gaius Charles, Monique Gabriela Curnen, James Landry Hebert, Michael Irby, Brooklyn Sudano, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Simu Liu and Ali Kazmi.

The series was developed by Alexander Cary. He executive produces with Luc Besson, Matthew Gross, Edouard de Vesinne and Thomas Anargyros. Universal Television produces.

"Monday nights are critical to our success," said Robert Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment Chairman. "We're going strong into the rest of the season with the return of The Voice in February followed by the premiere of Taken, along with additional episodes of our great new series Timeless. We're very happy to welcome Gwen Stefani back to The Voice, along with Blake, Adam and our new coach Alicia Keys. And Taken is a thrilling new series inspired by the hit movie franchise but updated in a very clever way."

Jennifer Salke, President of NBC Entertainment, added, "Timeless is a phenomenal new show that takes the audience emotionally to a completely different place and time each week. We're thrilled to be ordering additional episodes so that we can run the final six hours of the season in a row with no preemptions after the new year. Our hats are off to Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan for producing one of the most ambitious new shows anywhere on television."